Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Joe Bell Is Taking A Walk In Memory Of His Son

Jadin Bell, an Oregon teenager, was another one of those kids, targeted for being gay or perhaps just seeming to be gay—whatever that means—until he got to a point where he could no longer take it. One day, he went to the playground at an elementary school, climbed to the top of a jungle gym, and hanged himself. A passerby saw his body and tried rescuing him; Jadin was taken to Doernbecher Children's Hospital where he was put on life support. After several days, and still no brain activity, his family decided to let him go. [See post HERE]

Another one.

Shortly afterwards Jadin’s father, Joe Bell, made a decision. He could have been angry, he could have been distraught, he could have been a lot of things, but he decided, after burying his young son, that he would just go for a walk.

And Joe Bell is walking all across the United States to help spread the message against bullying. He says it'll take two years to walk the 5,000 miles—at a rate of 15-25 miles a day—and make it to the East Coast; Joe Bell resigned from his job to take that walk, and he’ll be doing it on two artificial knees; he had replacement surgery in 2010.
"I needed a break. I was ready, I was looking for something different. I just wish, however, that I was doing this under different circumstances."—Joe Bell
And as he walks from one coast to the other, he’ll stop to speak at schools and other venues about bullying, about the need to report it if it happens to you, or if you see it happening to anyone. He has even set up a foundation, Faces for Change [HERE] to promote anti-bullying programs.

See, Joe Bell understands that we don’t need another suicide, like that of  Jadin Bell, or Lance Lundsten, Tiffani Maxwell, Eric James Borges, Teddy Molina, Jamey Rodemeyer, Josh Pacheco,  David Hernandez Barros, Brandon Elizares, Joel Morales, Zachery Gray, Jay 'Corey' Jones, Jack Reese, Kenneth Weishuhn, Rafael Morelos, Phillip Parker, Jacob Rogers, Nicholas Kelo Jr., Brandon Bitner, Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas, Phoebe Price, Jaheem Herrera, Jeremiah Lasater, Megan Meier, Eric Mohat, Carl Joseph Walker Hoover …. Those are just the ones I’ve talked about on this blog, but there are so many, many more.

Joe’s walk will take him through Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, before he moves north through Pennsylvania, New York and his destination of the Delaware coastline. He’s most looking forward to the New York stop because that was where Jadin wanted to live one day.

If, by chance, Joe Bell walks through your town, why not go out and meet him, and thank him for not only honoring his son’s memory, but for getting up and doing something about bullying. And, if he doesn’t pass your way, why not stop in at Faces forChange and see what you can do to help.

Before we have “Another One”.

4 comments:

  1. oooooooh, wonder if he will pass thru/near philly...

    WHEN will the h8 stop? :(

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  2. Locally, today, the districts (we have six) announced an initiative to improve school attendance by teaching students the importance of attending school, giving them *trinkets* (yes they used that word) for attendance and urging employers to give employees time off to attend school conferences.

    Well... I have my own opinions about what would help these kids having taught them and trinkets will not do it.

    What I noticed what was missing is another reason kids miss school - bullying. Not one mention. What do you think would more likely keep a child out of school - boredom? skate boarding more fun? lack of trinkets? lack of parental involvement? (I've seen it all except trinkets!) or fear of getting the crap kicked out of you?

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  3. this is courageous of him

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  4. Anonymous5:18 PM

    Joe will definitely be in Philadelphia as it was one of the cities Jadin visited while on an eighth grade trip. I don't know if we are making arrangements that far in advance. Joe has estimated two years. But you may contact me at mikro@juno.com

    ReplyDelete

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